Silence
by MattyMattMattMatthew
Summary: A mute girl is found in the forest unable to walk and just happens to have mysterious past... Sorry bad description.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey so this is my first walking dead story! I hope you like it! This is my best story idea thus far! OK! Enjoy :)**

I could hear it. Labored breathing. Gunshots. Suddenly I could see it. I tried to scream but no sound came to my chapped lips.

It growled.

It moaned.

It walked.

It ate.

It could be killed.

My shaking hand brought the perfectly steady gun up. I guess my hand wasn't shaking. I shot it. It went down. The world was quiet. Silent. Serene?

* * *

I kept my mouth closed fearing the rough sounds coming from it. I was sure that if I made one noise I would sound like them. Dead. Gone.

As it crawled toward me its legs torn from its body, it hissed. A low vibrating sound that shook my body. Another painful cry escaped my chest. No words can explain this so why bother even talking?

My smith and Wesson 9mm sat five feet away. Empty anyway. My last round had only lasted five minuets. The cold hand touched my bare foot but before the long bloody finger nail could dig into my paper white skin blood splattered flecking my white body with all different shades and tints of red. Blood.

I looked up from under my crimson eyelashes my doe like purple eyes roaming the forest for the cause. My eyes settled on a tall-ish figure holding a cross-bow and slowly making his way towards me.

"Are you bit? Hurt?" Was the first thing out f his mouth as he grabbed the arrow pulling it out of the decrepit head.

I shook my head once. No I wasn't hurt.

"You got someplace to stay? A name?"

I shook my head then slipped a paper out of my pocket containing everything that anyone would ever need to know. The basics at least.

_Florence 'Poppy' Lotus_

_twenty-seven. Hopefully in counting._

_If you are reading this and I am alive you may need to be informed that I will not speak to you or anyone else._

The man looked at me a second then held out his dirty hand. I gripped it tightly.

"Daryl." He said and did something I did not expect. He pulled me to my feet.

I fell back to the ground.

I felt his eyes on me probably searching for injuries that would communicate that I could not walk. If I did have an injury it would be very clear considering the fact that I was wearing gym shorts and a hoodie. I lifted my leg with my hand then made my pointer finger and middle finger walk in the air. I continued this gesture with a jerk of my head as a signal for 'no walking' or 'can't walk'.

Daryl pulled me up but this time swung my up bridal style staying silent. My limp legs dangled towards the ground as he led me back to were ever he had been before this. My Smith and Wesson had been placed in his waistband.

I could see a clearing in the tree's up ahead and even fifty feet from it I could smell the warm aroma of cooking. How long has it been since I last had a decent meal?

Three. It's been three. But three what? Weeks? Days? Months? _Years?_ I quickly dismissed that thought as Daryl's voice penetrated my silence.

"Florence or Poppy?" He asked and I looked at him confused. "You had quotations around Poppy so I'm guessing you go by Poppy?" I answered silently with nod.

"Would you mind if I took you to my group?" He continued. YES! I screamed in my head but I shook my head. No.

I was taken to an empty fire but in the distance I saw people slowly making their way to the fire with plates. I looked towards the fire to see a pig roasting over the fire pit. My mouth watered. Daryl saw my anticipation and ran to grab two paper plates as people sat down. At first no one noticed the new face among them but after Daryl had given me a plate of food a girl sat down next to me thinking I was someone else.

"So Lori The girls..." The blonde trailed off looking at my confused face. My eyes were too far apart on my face and my lips were very full giving me a foreign exotic look.

"Who are you?"

Daryl was talking with a man who had a cowboy hat on when he noticed my distress. He right away knew what was going on and he right away rushed to my defense.

"Andrea! This is Poppy! I found her in the forest!"

Andrea held out her hand "Andrea."

I smiled shaking it lightly.

"Can I show you around?" Andrea asked.

I nodded and she turned to lead me to around. I sat there helpless. I had been in a car accident before this and the doctor said that I most likely wouldn't walk again. My legs were already skinnier and smaller than the rest of my body. I was still tall but even if I could walk right now my legs wouldn't be able to take it.

Daryl whispered something to Andrea before I saw him run into the motor home and rummage around. He came out with a pair of crutches. Daryl helped me onto the and it was a slow process. Before I could pick the crutches up off the ground I would have to place my weight so that my bare feet barely even touched the ground. I made it over to Andrea and she led me slowly to a figity brunette. Her hair was the same shade as mine but mine was naturally straight.

Andrea got the girls attention and then introduced me as Poppy. I smiled at her. Lori but the flighty brunette looked a little uneasy in my presence. Next I met Dale.

Dale shook my hand and smiled at me and asked about my legs and seemed like a very talkative person. Andrea introduced me to everyone and only one person seemed downright appalled at my presence. His name was Shane. I didn't really like him either s far because in my bk first impressions count.

The crutches dug int me and finally I just dropped them and fell to the ground. I moved my legs s I was cross-legged and moved t lean against the camper. My legs didn't feel anything so there was no uncomfortable sensation in my legs or anything like that.

If you're wondering how I've survived the... Uh... The... Things... So long it's because when they first came my dad put me in a tree and I've starved ever since. A thing knocked me out of a tree eventually... And here I am. In the flesh. Alive. And? For the most part I'm fine.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I know I'm not getting Daryl's character very close but I want him to act as more nice around Poppy. oh and I don't use fowl language in my stories... Also if you see a word missing an O it's because the O on my keyboard doesn't work so I ave to go through with like an n screen keyboard. So... I hope you like this chapter! Also this chapter is going t be pretty long because I'm putting in the senior citizens (I think that was spelled wrong...) **

I was asleep when the commotion clouded my brain. I woke up instantely looking around at my surroundings. I must have fallen asleep against the camper because now I was in someone's tent. I looked to my left and saw Andrea and Amy sleeping peacefully. I unzipped the tent and dragged myself out. I lay on the grass just outside of the tent and listened in n a conversation.

"You left my brother handcuffed t a pole!" Yelled Daryl's distinct voice.

"Listen I'm sorry but he was out of line!" Rick Grimes.

"It's my fault man I'm sorry. I had the key." Said anther voice.

"Why didn't you just give him the key?!" Screamed Daryl and I could see other heads pocking out of tents. I folded my arms under my chin and stared up at them.

"I dropped it... Down a drain..."

Severel profanities were yelled until Rick could quiet him down. They were going t get Merle -Daryl's brother- in the morning.

Everyone went back to their respective sleeping quarters and I found myself yawning and simply falling asleep on the grass.

* * *

I woke up again in a chair with a blanket wrapped around me so I looked like a burrito. Everyone else was sitting in a chair and Rick was talking.

"-going to need all the people we can get fr this mission." He finished and T-dog, Daryl, and Glenn volunteered.

Rick nodded telling them to get their stuff. "Anyone else?" He asked and I scribbled something onto the piece of paper that Dale had provided me with in case I would ever have to tell anyone something.

_I'll go _I held it up high so Rick would notice me.

"I don't know Poppy you could get seriously hurt and would you be able t get away if need be?" I heard what was under his voice _You would slow us down and kill us all._

Shane spoke up "You'd just slow us down."

I glared at him "I'll be fine! I can shoot. In fact I can shoot well and it would be a lot easier if I had a chair so maybe we could find one in the city. I'm not useless so I wanna help." I knew my argument wouldn't last long but they couldn't keep me from going. Also if I could survive Atlanta at least I know that I can survive almost anywhere else.

I crawled back to my tent and grabbed my gun. I filled it then put my hoodie back on. I didn't have any shoes and I didn't like wearing them anyway so I didn't. I strapped three knives to myself underneath the hoodie so I could get to them easily. I grabbed the crutches so I could at least move.

I pulled myself out of the tent then stood with the crutches.

Glenn helped me to the van and I sat in the back clutching my gun hard.

Lift.

Drag.

Up.

Shoot.

Lift.

Drag.

Up.

Shoot.

The morbid pattern flashed into my mind as I thought of that last day I was really alive.

Dead.

Drip, drip.

Dead.

Drip, drip.

Dead.

Drip, drip.

As the blood slowly drained and rosy red turned to white.

The car came to a stop on a railway and I got out. I only had one crutch so I could still shoot.

* * *

I sat in Daryl's arms as we made up way up the stairs. I told all of them to just leave me downstairs but they wouldn't. I was set down on cold concrete as they looked around. I came to an dd realization. We hadn't seen any zombies so far... The boys were so into what they were doing that they didn't see the like twenty zombies shuffling onto the roof.

Lift. The zombie lifted some of the guts falling out of it.

Drag. The zombie behind it had no legs.

Up. A zombie had fallen.

Shoot. _BAM_, _BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!_

Five shots rang out and four zombies dropped dead.

I had everyone's attention as I shot again. Shots rang out behind me as I scooted back trying to get to were the boys were.

Rick grabbed me and set me next Daryl's feet. I shot more. Twenty were down but more moans echoed up the stairwell.

Daryl scooped me up and we ran towards anther open door. I hung on to Daryl periodically checking behind him to see if any zombies had gotten close to us. Rick was following a trail of blood to find Merle but it seemed like it would be a lost cause.

We came t a window and that's were the blood trail ended. I leaned out of Daryl's arms and grabbed onto the window sill, I felt a little embarresed because I looked like a baby trying t get out of its mother's arms. I pulled out so I was in a sitting position n the window sill facing them. I made sure I had everyone's attention then I flipped around just barely seeing the first bloody hand poking out from around the corner. I looked down quickly then jumped. I landed so I was hanging off the edge of the fire escape but I quickly pulled myself up as I heard the sound of shoes hitting the metal.

I looked down the ladder but saw no zombies. I climbed down the ladder almost falling once because my legs were just dangeling. I was used to having to climb things with just my arms.

I hit the bottom and started dragging my legs to the nearest door. I pushed it open as Rick Grimes lifted me up. We fell into an office building complete with office cubicles. No sounds were going off so we took it as no zombies and pulled ourselves into an office space. It was a strange office space and spare office supplies littered the walls. As the boys talked I grabbed a large bag off the wall meant for you to be able to easily take all the supplies you needed to your space.

I pulled a laptop off of a low shelf and turned it on. My eyes brightened when I saw that it had a full charge. I put five in the bag along with, five Ipads, four Iphone 4's. I realized that this probably wasn't a storeroom this was probabbly an electronics company and this is where they put the stuff. I started listening to the boys conversatin.

"OK the gun bag." Rick started.

Glenn continued with his whole plan of how Daryl would wait in one alley and Glenn would run and get the gun bag well Rick and T-Dog were in an alley two blocks away. If Glenn could get back to Daryl easily he would go. If he couldn't he would go to T-dog and Rick.

I joined in _What about me? _Written on a sheet of paper.

Everyone turned there attention to me "Why don't you stay with Daryl so he'll have back up if he gets overflowed." I smiled at the idea.

I handed the bag to Rick _Here take this and don't look in it and don't lose it!_

"What is it?"

_It's a...uh...present._ I gave the bag to him because I knew that it wouldn't be fair to Daryl if he had to carry me and that computers.

We set out and Rick had my bag and Daryl and Glenn had me. I was sitting comfortably on Glenn's back when he suddenly set me down against a wall. our plan was in actin. Glenn went out to get the gun bag but before he was even halfway there someone else grabbed it. Glenn ran back to us as the man with the gun bag ran to him. Someone showed up behind Daryl and I. I pulled my hood up and shot at the man but missed. Glenn got back to us and ran straight int guy number one (The guy behind us) as guy number two (The guy with the guns) tripped over me and went flying.

Daryl made for the guns but guy number one held a gun to Glenn's head and said if we didn't leave the guns alone they would kill Glenn. Guy number two grabbed the guns and guys one and two made off with Glenn and the guns. Suddenly guy number three showed up from behind a building zipping up his pants. Daryl grabbed him by the neck and scooped me up heading off to find Rick.

* * *

I sat in Daryl's arms (as always) as guy number three led us to were Glenn was. I had put together the whole plan and it was quite a risky one. T-dog sat on the roof with a gun and Rick and Daryl sat back behind me. I lay on the ground and made my way up the the door of the warehouse they were in. I threw myself against the door screaming that I knew they were in there and that I needed help.

The door slowly opened with a riffle nose pointing out. The riffle pointed at me for a moment then finally the door opened wider and I was taken inside. All part of the plan.

* * *

Sniffle.

Blow.

Squeak.

Shuffle.

Sniffle.

Blow.

Squeak.

Shuffle.

Sniffle.

I looked up from under my lashes at the stone hard faces in front of me. I was litterally shocked.

I held up a glossy piece of paper that to me meant life or death. Printed on that one piece of paper were two words that held my future. _Go Fish_.

Margret burst out laughing. "That's like the fifteenth time in a row! What cards do you have?"

Glenn leaned over towards me as it was his turn. "Poppy do you have any one's?"

I glared at him and layed down five one cards.

I pushed over the stack of cards in the middle and wheeled away.

I was desperately awaiting the arrival of Rick and Daryl... Although I've only been here like three hours. I've already learned how to play three songs on the ban-joe, gotten a wheelchair, and played Go fish seventeen times. It turns out that behind the tough guy exterior all of these people hold they really do have nice hearts. I was supposed to be getting Glenn out but I think I could handle mashing up already mashed potatoes and feeding them to people for the rest of my life if I never had to see those things again.

I heard a commotion coming from the warehouse and I slipped my gun into my hand wheeling over there. Rick was standing with his gun to Felipe's head. I wheeled over to them but before I could make it one of the elderly woman took care of it by making her way over to her grandson and telling him to stop.

The Woman led Rick Daryl and T-Dog to Glenn. I rolled up alongside Daryl and winked at him.

He looked at me for a long while before choosing to simply ignore me and hand me the bag.

* * *

We left with a little over half of the initial guns because of Rick's soft heart. The car was gone but I had a chair so at least no one would have to carry me home. Though not everything had gone exactly as planned maybe everything will turn out all right.

**If it shows that Poppy talked just pretend she wrote it... Sorry if that happens! Review and favorite! Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took so long! I do realize that Poppy was screaming a few things last chapter. Pretend she was just screaming because if I make it so that she doesn't scream I wold be making her defenseless if zombies had her cornered and no one knew. So yeah she can scream. It's not that she can't talk it's just that she chooses not to. I'll go more into her past of not talking sooner or later... Probably later.**

I looked toward sleeping forms as I slipped into my chair grabbing a change of clothes they had provided me with. I wheeled down the lake-ish pond and dove in wearing my gym shorts and tank top. I swam working up my arm strength for about an hour before I got out and did push ups. Push up were easy because I only had to lift my torso but I clapped in between each push up. I did sit ups for about two hours.

I slept for about three hours and it was the crack of dawn. I continued to do push ups until I heard tents un-zipping and loud yawns. I wheeled back up and got several half awake hello's. The ever-observant Glenn notices that I had gotten covered in sweat and smelled like the pond. I shrugged it off and changed in my tent.

I needed someone's help for the next exercises. I knew exactly the person I was looking for. I tried to find Daryl but he was no where in sight so I went to my second option of Andrea.

I lay on my back head propped by a log surrounding the campfire. Andrea lifted my leg straight up and bending it back until it hurt. It hurt when my knee was in my face. She then bent it at tons of different angles but... Nothing. I wouldn't move.

Although everyone told me not to worry I still did because I hadn't seen Daryl all day. I constantly checked in his tent to see if there was any signs of life but nope. He simply wasn't here.

We had a small dinner of rice and... Rice.

I leaned back in my chair listening to the conversation go on around me when I heard it.

Drag.

Moan.

scratch.

Scream.

I turned around quickly straining my neck to see.

Carl.

Sophia.

Zombies.

I screamed with the kids raising more of an alarm as I slowly made my way to get my gun from the tent. I hit something with my wheel and I went forward out of the chair. I scrambled to get a gun and finally found a snub nose revolver and turned to shoot the one's nearest to me.

I was out of bullets in almost ten seconds. I was weaponless. Scooting to another tent for more guns would be suicide and sitting here would be suicide. I chose the latter but I still tried to find something to defend myself with. I couldn't be all brave and heroic because of my legs but at least I could attempt to keep myself alive.

That's just what it was too. An attempt because soon enough I was dragging myself back screaming with my high-pitched sound as a zombie went for my legs.

Something hit the zombie in the back of the head. Daryl. I sat open-mouthed as Daryl pulled the zombie off of me then threw me over his shoulder.

I didn't complain as I held on him tight and he shot zombies. Daryl had been evading me since Atlanta and I had tried my hardest to figure out what was going on. He set me down in my chair once we were sure there was no more. Several of us were bit and burying the dead was not a happy thing.

Andrea wouldn't move away from Amy `till she shot her sister.

* * *

We drove away to the CDC leaving the Morales Family to fend for themselves.

Jim was bit.

I didn't understand what they thought they could do for him because he was obviously turning quite fast.

We left him.

I brushed it off trying not to think about poor Jim too much.

* * *

We pulled up outside the CDC and filed out making our way to the entrance were Rick practically attacked every zombie in a ten-mile radius with all the noise he was making. I shrunk down in my chair as the doors opened.

Glenn pushed me in and I wheeled myself the rest of the way. I didn't pay attention to the man leading us into the building. I didn't even catch with name. I could probably just call him Doc.

We ended up drinking (Well all except for me though they did try to get me to try some) and most everyone had gotten themselves drunk. It wasn't enjoyable and I didn't see how everyone though it was. I made my way to a room and heard everyone screaming about showers and water. I ended up very slowly taking a short shower after falling three times. I finally crashed on the couch and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

I woke the next day and attempted to get into my chair but ended up falling off of the couch._ Bad start to a good_ day I thought.

I ignored my chair not wanting more bruises from trying to get into it from the floor. I pulled myself toward the smell of food and halfway there I was hit in the head with an opening door. Daryl walked out to see me rubbing my head. He stared at me for a second before lifting me up.

I tried to find my note pad in my pocket but it wasn't there.

Flashback~

_I sat on the porch of the Los Angeles house throwing a ball at the semi in front of me watching the ball bounce back memorized. Mom and dad were inside talking. Or at least I thought they were talking. Dad came out suddenly followed by mom and mom picked me up into a hug. _

_"Dad has to go away on a business trip OK sweetie?" Mom said._

_"I'll be back in a few weeks and don't get into_ to_ much trouble Florence!" He hugged my eight year old body tightly before walking down to his Mercedes that was across the street. The semi chose that time to move._

_The semi had run over my dad and he went to the hospital. He died. Later that same month my mother met the same fate. _

_I saw both of my parents die in the same month. The doctors told my aunt and uncle that I was perfectly capable of talking I just was under a lot of emotional stress so I chose not to talk because in my mind it was a very useless thing._

~End flashback.

Daryl carried me to breakfast were I ate greedily inhaling my food much to everyone's amusement. I did choke once or twice.

Five times.

Doc locked us in.

"Twenty five minuets." The computer said counting down the seconds.

We tried to get out and when we were finally able to leave the computer blared again "Ten minuets."

Daryl scooped me up and we ran.

I made him stop because I needed that chair. We could get to it but Daryl wouldn't budge.

I punched him trying to will him to go get it. He ran with me down to the rooms and grabbed the chair not setting me down simply hauling it with us.

"Twenty seconds!" The computer yelled.

We blew up the windows and bolted. Daryl and I hid behind the motorcycle and... **_BOOM!_ **Andrea and Daryl had just made. It. Some didn't.

Daryl put my wheelchair in one of the cars then settled me on the back of his motorcycle.

With the wind in my hair and my arms wrapped around Daryl in a death grip I though that maybe, just maybe I could do this.


End file.
